what is a decent piano for the price ?

[pianoplunker]

I am seriously considering getting in the market for an at-home piano. What I mean by "decent" is a piano that is  easily maintained and has reliability - just as if I were shopping for a car. I tried looking at online price lists but there are so many brands and price ranges I actually cant figure this out. I want a piano that a technician would say "that is a well built model"  The touch and feel are up to me but I dont want something that will fall apart ever.  I also want one that wont need tuning but maybe once a year. I am not against digital if it has some cool features and quality. I am thinking $5000.price range but would spend more if the quality warranted it . Maybe up to 10,000 if that is where the price point would fall for what I am looking for. A console piano is probably what I want so I can see out my window while a play. I am not looking for cheap junk.
any help you can offer is appreciated

[hfmadopter]

Regardless of what you get you really don't want to place it so that sunlight hits it for a good portion of the day. Is this window North facing ?

I would think that you could get a well made studio model or well made console from any of the more common manufacturers and meet your goal price range. Almost all economy models regardless of brand are made in some third world country. Surprisingly, many better models are made in China but under standards placed on them by the parent company who put people in place to ensure quality control and that top brand name parts are used. Maybe start out the common route, looking at Yamaha and Kawai top consoles and see what you can find there. Then spread out from those brands. Don't buy the first thing you run into, you should sit at the piano and feel like you want to play and play on it. That's the piano you want to buy into. I personally wouldn't rule out a lightly used piano of a top brand but I personally also would not be looking for a console as I really like the grand piano style.

The tuning once a year thing really comes down to climate and or climate control. Any good brand will have tight pins and decent build quality. But if humidity swings all over the place during the year it's going out of tune during season changes, period. it's going out of tune eventually anyway but climate increases the frequency.

One thing, as controversial as digital's are around here, they stay in tune !

[awesom_o]

I would recommend at least a 48" upright.

What hfmadopter said about China is correct. Not all instruments that are built in China are equal, but overall, it is no longer the cheapest place in the world to build a piano.

In my area, $5k-10k is a very good budget. Enough for a top-of-the-line upright from my favourite Chinese manufacturer with several thousand to spare, or enough for their 5'3 grand, which musically is a force to be reckoned with!

In my opinion, although many people with your budget would be looking for a used Yamaha or Kawai, your best value for money in a purely price/performance sense would be a new Chinese piano.

[hfmadopter]

I would recommend at least a 48" upright.

What hfmadopter said about China is correct. Not all instruments that are built in China are equal, but overall, it is no longer the cheapest place in the world to build a piano.

In my area, $5k-10k is a very good budget. Enough for a top-of-the-line upright from my favourite Chinese manufacturer with several thousand to spare, or enough for their 5'3 grand, which musically is a force to be reckoned with!

In my opinion, although many people with your budget would be looking for a used Yamaha or Kawai, your best value for money in a purely price/performance sense would be a new Chinese piano.

The shop down the street from me that used to be a Baldwin only dealer and also a rebuilder of all brands of pianos has changed outlook a bit and brought in some Chinese made pianos as well. The owner in there is my age more or less ( mid 60's) and has been rebuilding pianos for several decades. He claims some of the Chinese brand pianos are so good now that a human couldn't build one as well in terms of accuracy. Design and parts are computer generated and cut by way of computer controlled machinery to accuracy levels never before attainable. Top finishes are used and you can buy a 5'7" grand from him on sale for $7,900 that just sings and looks absolutely beautiful. He says it's all but killed his rebuilding business though. He can't compete on a rebuild job, people just buy a new piano instead. Unless a piano has nostalgic value as a family heirloom it may not be worth rebuilding these days.

My all American brand Henry F Miller, a name that's been around since the mid 1800s has gone to China to manufacture it's pianos. Parts are American and German, solid sound boards with laminated skin surfaces and high grade laminated 19 layer Hard maple pin blocks, harps from the US., German Strings and Hammers. I bet I can buy a new one of those for less money than it would cost to rebuild mine and it's 3 inches longer than mine these days. But my piano has that nostalgic value to my wife now, so we probably will slug it out with this one !!